Bibliophibians
There has to be a better word for someone who loves books than “bookworm.†No offense to worms, which are essential to the ecological balance, but they’re way down the food chain and have appeared in too many horror images — decomposing corpses, rotten fruit, slimy stuff.
People who go on and on about foie gras and that grotty little dive with the delightful ceviche are called “foodies,†but we were beaten into “bookies†by sinister men with kneecap-busting associates. I’ve tried “bibliophile,†but there’s something effete and artsy-fartsy about it — think of men in smoking jackets holding forth about their first editions (and still living with their mothers).
The candidates: bibliophile, bibliomaniac, bibliophage, bibliotaph, biblioleptic.  Seizures in Emotional Weather Report, today in the Star.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
September 19th, 2008 at 16:45
Too Greek. What’s wrong with ‘book geek’? It’s not too uppity, and it has geek in it, which one can use as a word of opprobrium or of praise, whichever one prefers.
September 20th, 2008 at 16:56
thanks for linking your PS column here. sometimes it’s not easy looking for your new entries in PS. thanks!
September 24th, 2008 at 12:46
There is this book The Anatomy of Bibliomania by Holbrook Jackson. It describes all kinds of love for books–bibliophage, bibliophile, biblioklepts, etc. It seems there are even those who buy books but never ever read them. They are acquired for the idea they represent or for their aesthetic value.